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| - Decent but over-hyped sushi restaurant. Like many Madison Japanese restaurants, they don't prepare the rice traditionally; it tastes like Uncle Ben's put in the microwave. No rice vinegar, no salt or sugar. Just bland. It's too bad, because I'd argue that along with Takumi this place has by the far the freshest fish, and they do a nice job with portions.
Their California roll advertises real crab, but it was a parsimonious serving and all we could taste was bland rice. The sushi assortment was good; their tuna is tender and has a nice deep color. Soft-shell crab rolls were decent, smoky crab flavor came through cleanly. I've also tried the 'black cod' dish at lunch and dinner. The cod is delicious----very fresh, buttery, delicate. But the plate itself needs a re-imagining, it's just a random hodgepodge of inedible raw onions, steamed cauliflower, and improperly prepared (and thus bitter) eggplant. A fish of that caliber and freshness really deserves a better concept and better execution than nasty vegetables.
Overall recommended if you're at Sundance for a movie and want some sushi, but Muramoto basically holds the line for Midwestern seafood averageness. Really not worth any kind of hype. That said, this is a good place for people watching; locals appear to show off their recent fashion purchases at Banana Republic and talk loudly about the whatever new P.T. Anderson movie they've seen.
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